Businesses do not make good Facebook friends.

I thought we were past this, but it's been brought to my attention recently that I was wrong. So, in a last-ditch effort to wipe this approach off the social media map, let me say it on the record: Please don't use a Facebook user profile for your business.

First, a quick chat about the semantics: A "user profile" is the account you use to log into Facebook. It's for individuals only, and it's technically against Facebook rules for multiple people to use the same log-in. A "brand page," meanwhile, is an official Facebook presence for a business, nonprofit, celebrity, etc. Multiple people — dozens, even — can run a brand page.

There are a lot of reasons organizations have stuck with user profiles. Usually it's just a simple desire to stick with what you know, or a focus on speaking to customers as "friends" instead of "fans."

But at this stage in the social media game, Facebook's brand page system is simply too powerful and flexible to pass up. Need more reasons to switch? Read on.

With Facebook pages, you can:

• Publish status messages that appear in your fans' news feeds. 
• Create custom tabs with special offers, applications, coupons — just about anything.
• Have multiple administrators with easy access to the page, which makes transition easier in the event that a Facebook-managing employee leaves.
• Maintain the privacy of your admins. Fans can't see the names of a page's administrators. 
• Have an unlimited number of fans (while user profiles are limited to 5,000 friends). 
• Have access to robust (and free) analytics explaining fan growth, engagement, and traffic. 
• Advertise and promote affordably through Facebook.

But these benefits barely scratch the surface when it comes to the strength of brand pages. So how about a quick case study?

A few months back, we were chatting with the great folks at Alabama's Lake Guntersville State Park. It's a tremendously popular destination, and they were already strong on Facebook. But the park was still using a user profile instead of a brand page, and they wanted some advice on switching.

Their biggest fear, understandably, was losing the 1,000+ friends their account had accumulated. So we advised simply placing a link to the new page on the old profile, but keeping it around just in case. Three days later, the park had more fans than friends. Today, thanks solely to organic growth, the park has 6,600 fans.

I'd say a 500% increase in your audience size is a pretty good reason to make the switch.

And I should mention, you're violating the laws of Facebook when you create user profiles for businesses, and the social media police will come for you. Well, maybe not. But you could have your profile deactivated if Facebook finds you to be violating their Terms of Use.

Moral of the story: Facebook has created an impressive way for businesses to set up shop in the world's largest community (500 million residents and counting). The advantages are increasing in leaps and bounds as Facebook improves, and it's high time to get on board.  

If your business is using a user profile, here's a simple three-step plan to switch:

1. Make sure you have a real, legitimate personal Facebook account for yourself. You can use this to administer the Facebook Page, without even having to "friend" your coworkers. Absolutely refuse to create a personal account? Then try a business account, which is like an ultra-light account made solely to run pages and advertising.

2. Log in through your personal account and create a brand page. You can add as many admins as you want, inviting your Facebook friends or typing in e-mail addresses of non-friends. 

3. Post a comment on your old business profile, letting friends know where you've moved. The best thing to do is link directly to your new page by typing the @ symbol, then spelling the name of your brand. This will pull up a drop-down list of options and create a live link within your status update:

Sure, switching to a page can take a little time and effort, and you might even feel like you're starting from scratch. But have a little faith in your brand and take the growing pains; your brand will benefit from this modest investment of social media legwork.

Kammie Avant is a social media planner for Luckie & Company. You can contact her by e-mail or follow @KammieAvant on Twitter.

Comments

[John R. Sedivy]

This is probably one of the most frustrating aspects of businesses on Facebook. The benefits of a page vs. profile for business use are obvious to most, however there seem to still be quite a few holdouts which seem adamant about keeping their business user profile - even after gentle correction by others. In addition to the technical benefits listed I find that being approached by a business as a "friend" just seems clunky and weird.

Your article did a great job of summarizing the benefits of making the switch and hopefully the final holdouts will do so!

[Lindsay Baish]

Thank you for bringing this serious breech of FB etiquette to light! I'm still amazed at how many businesses have not caught onto the fact that they should be making pages instead of profiles. I suspect it's just a lack of understanding, but even so - how lazy!

[flag poles]

Good post. I believe that a business account has an absolute public profile and cannot be made private, for this would be self-defeating obviously. The user profile however, allows the account holder to tailor his or her Facebook profile settings to guard privacy. Thus a user profile can be both public and hidden, restricted to the user's friend network...